Chap. XIII. TROUBLESOME NATIVES. '^'^ 373 
for room and air, menaced in turn when we spoke 
roughly, and examined all our clothes and accoutre- 
ments to their hearts' content ; gave directions about 
the cooking, the lights, the arrangement of the beds, 
and every other detail ; and literally imposed upon us 
their noisy, chattering, hot, and not too odorous com- 
pany for some hours. The native teacher was only a 
slave, and had not the slightest influence over them, 
nor did he attempt to interfere ; so we bore the in- 
fliction with patience, if not with good-humour, until 
they gradually decamped to their own abodes. 
In the morning, we visited the large pa. It is situ- 
ated on two sand-hills, and protected to the east by a 
narrow deep tributary of the Otaki, called Manga- 
pouri, or " Dark branch." The position is strong with 
a view to native warfare ; and the village seems calcu- 
lated to hold some hundred people. Very few, how- 
ever, were now in the village. The house of fF'atanui, 
the head chief, was pointed out to us, and also his 
wafa, or store-house, elaborately carved and ornamented, 
in the same division of the pa. The chief, we were 
told, was absent at another settlement near Manawatu. 
A White trader, whom I had met before at Kapiti, 
was now residing in this village ; and we bought a 
small pig from him, and hired a native to drive it, as 
we understood that we should meet with no more 
inhabited settlements between this and JVanganui. 
From the summit of the pa, the view extended over a 
fertile tract of park-like and partially wooded country 
as far as the foot of the Tararua range, here about 
seven miles from the coast. 
Six miles along the sandy beach brought us to the 
Ohau river, which is joined by the TVaikawa, or 
" bitter water," about a mile from the sea. A little 
above the fork we crossed in a canoe to a pa on the 
